Part 1 - The Beginning

NOTE: This series is directed at a teenage and older audience, as it contains reference to subjects such as "woohoo", though the word may not actually be used. You have been warned!

Yo yo, what's up what's up?! Wow that was a terrible introduction. Ahem.

Some of you may know me by now, as Detective Kenzie Howell. Yep, that's me, small town girl detective who's one of the youngest and one of the best. Not that I'm bragging or anything. Not at all.

When I began the process of moving into my own place, I stumbled upon some old pictures taken from when I was little, some even before I was born. I decided I wanted to make a scrapbook to remember my life by, and perhaps even pass it on to future generations (if I can get a guy, but let's not get into that yet).

So to whoever reads this, this is my life, documented in pictures and told by me as I saw it.

What better place to start than the beginning? And I'm not talking as far back as I can remember; I'm talking about before I was even born. Marriage is a big part of anyone's life, and my parents have made it work for around 30 years (they were married at ages 18 and 19). Now since I wasn't born here, all the info I provide is second-hand, but hey, I think I did good.

My parents, Russ and Constance, met in high school through mutual friends. How often do you hear of high school sweethearts making it past high school or college? Not often, at least to me. My parents are a rare exception.

On their wedding day, they wanted to keep it slightly small, with family and close friends. So that's what they did. Here's a couple of pictures of them putting each other's rings on.

They got married in the Riverview church, since they both lived there and fell in love there. So it was perfect. Actually, everyone at the wedding was from Riverview. Small world, huh?

Aww, here's a picture of them exchanging their vows:

And the wedding kiss! Something about seeing my parents kissing isn't all that appealing for some reason.

And here is their wedding portrait:

So after that lovely process, everyone just headed into another room in the church for the reception. Nothing fancy, just a celebration for two people joining their lives together.

A little scary seeing how my parents got down and funky, especially at a wedding. Who was in charge of music, seriously?

Thankfully they got into the appropriate wedding groove with a slow dance.

My parents had saved up a lot of money for their honeymoon, which they wanted to take in France. They did all kinds of things there, but not all documented obviously. Ugh, why did I think of that?

One of the first things my parents did on their honeymoon was check out the legendary Chateau du Landgraab. They were fortunate enough to meet some locals who spoke English, so they could get pictures taken together. Here they are sitting on the fountain in the back of the chateau.

Later that same day, they went to the town square, where another pretty fountain greeted them. And again, some locals were able to get some pictures of them.

Their flight to France took a very long time, so they'd slept on the plane and had arrived during the day. So their first night in France was very...romantic. I need to tell my parents there are some things you just shouldn't share with people, especially your kid.

The hotel they stayed in was pretty nice, and Dad snuck this picture of Mom; despite being a newlywed she was still pretty shy. Why do I have this in my scrapbook? My dad has a funny sense of humor so he snuck it in. Just what I want to see, my mom in lingerie.

Thankfully that's the ONLY bedroom shot they got on their trip.

The next day, my parents visited the nectary. Mom was super excited about crushing grapes to make wine, so she made Dad get a picture of her doing so.

Dad wasn't as thrilled to step on grapes, or anything for that matter, with his bare feet, but even newlyweds have peer pressure. I think Mom won, if this picture is any indication.

My parents both got to make wine with the grapes they crushed, so Mom decided to serve it up for them while a local got a picture (glad so many French people spoke English!).

Toward the end of the honeymoon (they could only afford a few days), they got silly matching T-shirts as souvenirs (though Mom did get a mini Eiffel tower statue as well), and decided to return to Chateau du Landgraab, the first place they went on the honeymoon, to get a picture. This time though, only French-speaking locals were around so getting a picture taken was interesting to say the least.

My parents then decided to do one final thing before leaving, which was excavate something. I'm not sure where this is, but my parents took turns checking out the relics or artifacts, or whatever they were, sticking out of the ground. Fun fun.

When my parents returned home, they had a house to go to. That also took quite a bit of money to put back, which is why they could only stay in France for a few days. Here they are in front of their new, and first, house; my uncle Dan, Dad's older brother, took this picture.

And of course there had to be a pic of the groom carrying the bride over the threshold!

About this time you're probably wondering when I come along. This is my story, after all, not a biography of my parents. Well, first off, it took my parents for me to exist anyway. Second, it wasn't that quick; it took five years before my mom got pregnant. They wanted kids a year or two after they were married, but it took five. And in the end, all they ended up with was me. I don't know if that was intentional or if they decided one was enough; I hear I was quite a handful as a kid, but, not remembering, I can't defend myself on that claim.

Anyway, five years and five months later, Mom began to show, and Dad enjoyed getting pictures of her. Mom doesn't look too amused.

Another thing about Mom and her pregnancy - she craved watermelon like no tomorrow. Not very easy to come by except in the summer. But when she got ahold of it, watch out! Dad said she'd probably growl like a dog if you tried to take her watermelon from her, except he was too scared to try it so that could just be a suspicion.

Even at seven months, Mom still craved watermelon. Dad swears she could have made full meals out of the stuff.

Later on the day that last picture was taken, company came over. My parents can't even remember who it was, it was so long ago, but Mom felt me kicking so Dad got all excited and pictures were taken of this:

What's really funny is, he swears while his ear was pressed against Mom's stomach, I kicked his cheek. I guess I didn't want to be bothered!

I was due in April, but I was two weeks late. Mom said I would slide all around inside her belly, moving from one position to the other. When she slept on one side, she'd wake up in the morning and I'd always be on the opposite. I rolled around like a ball in there.

When the time came for me to leave my comfy womb (I must have really liked it in there!), it was May 1, 1987. My mom spent about six hours in labor before the doctors had to do an emergency C-section. That was pretty scary for everyone. But obviously I came out okay! I was born at 11:13 PM.

My parents didn't get my gender confirmed before I was born, but Mom was super happy that I was a girl. Dad was pretty indifferent, happy with whatever he got. They spent a lot of time, in addition to taking care of me, playing with me and snapping pictures of me and each other with me.

Here's Mom a couple of weeks after I was born, holding me in a chair they put in the nursery.

And then, when I couldn't sleep at night, they'd put me in their room. Here's Mom having more fun with me:

Then it was Dad's turn for pictures. Here's a picture of us together, which was taken in record time since I started crying right after the camera flash went off.

And then I wouldn't stop crying so I guess I was hungry, because Mom got a picture of Dad feeding me my bottle; she thought it was his turn for a change.

Not long after that, Dad's mom, my grandma Lucy, showed up at the house to see me. Grandma had four sons and lots of grandkids, but my dad is the youngest of her four sons, so he's always been her baby. In fact, she wasn't 100% set on the wedding of her youngest son, since if he left, she'd be all alone, Grandpa having died when Dad was 12.

She was also a little suspicious of my mom, for no particular reason, so Mom watched me like a hawk when Grandma was around, as can be seen here.

Now what about my maternal grandparents? Well, to put it bluntly, they're pretty much dead to us. My mom's mom abandoned her when she was an infant because she'd accidentally gotten pregnant at 16, so my mom was raised by her grandparents. She never even knew her father. Her grandparents died shortly after my parents returned from France. I've never met anyone on Mom's side of the family, but that's okay; I love my dad's side of the family, and there are enough of them to make up for the lack of contact between the other side.

Here's one last picture of me, laying in my crib. What is it about babies sleeping, or in this case trying to sleep, that makes them seem so sweet and innocent? I don't know, maybe when I have my own kids I will.

That concludes the first part of my autobiography/scrapbook. Next up are my toddler years! Thanks for reading!

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